1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water tank, especially to a water tank for household appliances.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Some household appliances such as dehumidifiers have water tanks to collect water. When the household appliance is operated, the moist air is drawn into the household appliance. Then the moist air is transformed into water and is collected in the water tank. When the water tank collects a certain amount of water, the household appliance stops operating until the user empties the water tank.
With reference to FIGS. 7 and 8, to stop the household appliance via change of the water level, a conventional water tank comprises a shell 600, a container 60, a float 70 and a micro switch 80. The container 60 is mounted slidably in the shell 600. The float 70 is mounted pivotally in the top of the container 60. The float 70 has an actuating rod 701 extending from one side thereof. The actuating rod 701 protrudes through the container 60. The micro switch 80 is mounted out of the shell 600 and has a pivoting lever 801. The pivoting lever 801 corresponds to the actuating rod 701.
In a normal status, the float 70 is positioned horizontally and the actuating rod 701 presses against the lever 801 such that the micro switch 80 is switched on and the household appliance is operated. Then water is collected continuously in the container 60.
When the collected water in the container 60 is gradually increased, the water lever raises to pivot the float 70 until the actuating rod 701 leaves the lever 801. The lever 801 is pivoted toward the container 60 and the actuating rod 701 abuts between the bottom of the lever 801 and the sidewall of the container 60. Then an open circuit is formed and the household appliance is stopped from operating and the water stops from flowing into the container 60. The user needs to pull the container 60 out of the shell 600 to empty the water inside so that the float 70 is allowed to pivot back to the horizontal status. Then the container 60 is pushed back into the shell 600 so that the actuating rod 701 presses the lever 801 again. The micro switch 80 is then on and the household appliance is restarted.
However, since the actuating rod 701 abuts between the bottom of the lever 801 and the sidewall of the container 60 when the float 70 is pivoted, if the float 70 is accidentally pivoted because the household appliance is placed upside down or is vibrated, the float 70 cannot self-pivot back to the original position. Even if the container 60 has no water inside, the actuating rod 701 may abut against the bottom of the lever 801 and cannot press the lever 801 to actuate the micro switch 80. Therefore, the user needs to pull out and push back the container 60 to restart the household appliance regardless that the container 60 is full or not.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a water tank with a limiting assembly to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.